Examines a general developmental hypothesis concerned with children's understanding of perceptual experience, memory, intentions, and emotions. It is hypothesized that young children view the mind as passive in relation to the external world and regard external events as determining subjective experience, whereas older children know many ways that…

Focuses on the professional role of the teacher in the classroom in relation to the students being taught and the subject matter being learned. Defines and gives examples of three dimensions of the professional act of teaching: conceptual knowledge, general knowledge, and interpersonal communication and social skills. (JHZ)

Discusses some of the problems encountered in teaching electronics in British secondary schools with regard to understanding certain concepts. Describes some ways of teaching the concept of potential in a secondary electronics course. (TW)

Describes a research project designed to monitor the transition from work based on concrete materials to the more formalized aspect of mathematics found in secondary schools. The topic of subtraction was chosen by three teachers who were involved in the investigation. (PK)

A number of alternative frameworks used by 84 students (ages 12-16) in interpreting phenomena concerned with fluid pressure were identified during interviews with these students. Methodology employed, tasks used to obtain data, an analysis of the results, and implications for physics teaching are included. (JN)

Recent research findings indicate that visualisers are seriously underrepresented among high mathematical achievers at the senior high school level. Possible reasons for this phenomenon are discussed, and kinds of imagery which overcome some of the limitations of visual processing in mathematics are described. (MNS)

What makes a fraction meaningful and a definition of the quantitative notion of fractions are discussed. Then observations from teaching experiments are presented. (MNS)

Included are brief articles on a laboratory approach for teaching basic geometry, having students give examples, and trigonometry and design. (MNS)

Reviews the research literature on the abilities of infants to categorize visual information on dot patterns; schematic faces; hue; and orientation. (HOD)

Reports on a study designed to investigate secondary school students' misconceptions of conservation principles and fields. Results indicate that misconceptions appear to persist and that students were unable to transfer knowledge readily. Also teachers appear not to be fully aware of students' misconceptions. (ML)

Offers perspectives on research related to students' ideas about science prior to instruction. Discusses possible origins of prior knowledge, the requirements for conceptual change, and reviews instructional implications. (ML)

Establishing and maintaining the desirable kind of balance between meaning and computational competence is the subject of this reprint from a 1956 issue of the journal. Sources of the dilemma and suggestions for solution are discussed. (MNS)

Children in grades two and five explained such weather phenomena as wind, clouds, thunder, lightning, rain, snow, and rainbows during interviews. Results indicate that most students in both grades were at a stage of nonreligious finalism and do not use true causality in explanations. Implications for teaching are discussed. (DH)

The matching model of education, in which instructional activities are matched to the conceptual level (abstract to concrete) of the students, is recommended for second language instruction. Suggestions are made for varying the amount of structure in communication-centered activities. (MSE)

Explores the relations among combinatorial capacities in language, symbolic play, blockbuilding, and nonsemantic action sequences within a sample of 18- to 24-month-old children, as well as assessing the developmental level of a selected subset of concepts. (HOD)